Firaxis surprised by the success of Civilization 6 on Nintendo Switch

Firaxis Games executive producer Dennis Shirk has discussed the success of Civilization 6 on Nintendo Switch, which the team was surprised by.

Shirk said in an interview that the team “hadn’t expected Switch to be a huge thing.” And after seeing PC players wanting to have the game on the go, Firaxis wanted to ensure that with Civilization 7, players could transfer save data between platforms.

Shirk noted in an interview with GamesIndustry: 

“We weren’t sure when [the game] first came out on Switch. We were like: ‘Are people going to play it for that long on a handheld?’ And the answer was yes, yes they will. We hadn’t expected Switch to be a huge thing. But suddenly, it became a really huge thing. We found that a lot of our PC players were getting the game on Switch because they could take their game with them. And so with [Civilization 7], you can transfer your save game and keep playing. It’s compelling.”

Following up on the series’ last game, Civilization 7 will be appearing on Nintendo Switch next year, which Shirk is “a challenge”. Firaxis is working with Behaviour Interactive on the port, but still “did all the renders in-house, the whole nine years.” Behaviour is said to be “connected with the development environment and working closely with the teams.”

Civilization 6 is out now on Nintendo Switch and Civilization 7 is due out on February 11, 2025. We have more coverage here.